Arnold Community Council member Mark Williams, left, and ACC President Temple Bowling speak with U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais during the ACC’s recent visit to Washington, D.C. (Photo Provided)
Arnold Community Council (ACC) members recently made their annual trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with elected officials and staffers about Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC). Early in the planning for this trip, the group knew they wanted to garner Congressional support for AEDC and establish a caucus. They also wanted to build a relationship with the support groups for Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Earlier this year, Air Force Materiel Command proposed a new organization, AFTC, placing AEDC and Eglin AFB under Edwards AFB leadership with initial operating capability planned for Oct. 1. One of the key items on the trip agenda was working with Congressional delegations to create a Defense Test and Training Range Caucus, similar to the efforts of Logistic depots across the three bases. The Arnold Community Council team consisted of community leaders and citizens who paid their own expenses for this trip to the nation’s capital to promote AEDC. They visited 20 Congressional offices. The agenda included ways to decrease costs of developing the nation’s most critical aerospace systems; ideas for returning high technology jobs to the United States; improving international competitiveness to the U.S. aerospace service sector; embracing necessary future consolidations and helping the U.S. Congress win support for better and less expensive ways of doing business in the federal sector. This is the eighth year for the ACC trip to visit Congress. To learn more about the ACC or to view the complete briefing presented to Congressional officials, go to www.arnoldcommunitycouncil.com.
